Your Right to Know

BEAVERCREEK, Ohio — As Republican Gov. John Kasich sets out on a brief campaign swing through southwest Ohio today, his campaign released a new TV ad that appears to address his toughest days in office — when he attempted to curb collective bargaining rights for public employees through Senate Bill 5 in 2011.

In Kasich’s new ad, titled “He Listened,” a man identified as “lieutenant Steve, police officer” - identified by the campaign as Lt. Steve Cesaro of the Perry Township Police Department - looks says into the camera and says that “when John Kasich became governor, he shook things up and upset working people, including me.”

The ad never mentions how Kasich made people angry, but the use of the police officer in the ad is telling.

Kasich became the face of the GOP-controlled legislature’s attempt to dramatically reshape collective bargaining for public employees in 2011 through a bill that was eventually overturned by voters. Pundits say the inclusion of police officers and firefighters in Senate Bill 5 made the bill more difficult politically for Kasich to sell to voters.

Also in 2011, Kasich referred to a police officer who had given him a traffic ticket an “idiot” during a speech to some state employees.

The ad appears to address the single biggest political problem Kasich has faced in four years as governor, as well as jobs numbers released last week which showed that Ohio lost more jobs in July (12,000) than any other state. The ad says “nearly 250,000 new jobs have been created,” but that number is high.

According to the federal government, Ohio has added 227,400 jobs since January, 2011 — Kasich’s first month in office.

Asked following a campaign stop at a sign maker in Beavercreek, Ohio, about the ad, Kasich said “I didn’t write the ad” and wouldn’t elaborate on what events the ad was referring to.

But Kasich did address last week’s jobs report, which also showed unemployment creep up slightly to 5.7 percent — still below the national average of 6.2 percent.

“We have very volatile numbers in this state but the trajectory is right,” Kasich said. “We just have to keep working about it. I do have some concern on the national economy as it relates to consumers. We’re seeing not only here but global, a lack of confidence by consumers, who play a large part in driving the economy. But things go up, they go down, we’ll just keep at it.”

Kasich’s ad also comes at a time when his the campaign of his opponent — Democrat Ed FitzGerald — is reeling, with a mass exodus of top staff and advisers under way amidst weeks of swirling negativity surrounding the campaign that have exacerbated fundraising woes.

In a “fact check” email from FitzGerald’s campaign, the Democrat’s team says Kasich “has learned little from his resounding SB 5 defeat. For the last three years, Kasich has made cuts to teachers, police, firefighters, and seniors to fund tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of Ohio's middle class.”

Kasich wouldn’t address any of the issues surrounding FtzGerald’s campaign — the governor still has not mentioned his opponent’s name — and said: “when I play golf I don’t pay attention to how the other person is doing I just take care of my own game.”

Kasich’s last campaign stop today is at Price Hill Chili in Cincinnati.